The present invention relates to a utility vacuum cleaner of the tank type typically used for wet or dry pickup. Heretofore tank type wet/dry vacuum cleaners have been provided with one debris receiving chamber; such units are generally configured, by the user, for either wet or dry pickup by removal or insertion of a dust collecting filter upstream of the suction fan such as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 4,138,761. Still other wet/dry units, permitting wet or dry pickup, have been provided wherein the tank receives and retains liquid matter during wet pickup and during dry pickup, dry dust debris passes through the wet tank plenum, into and through the suction fan and is collected within an external filter bag downstream of the suction fan as taught in U.S. Pat. No. 3,552,100.
The disadvantages of the above referred prior art wet/dry cleaners is obvious. The first described unit is used in either the wet mode or dry mode and is not intended for alternating wet or dry pickup without unit modification. The user is advised to reconfigure the unit when changing from one mode to the other. The second referenced unit, when operating in the dry mode, permits fallout of dry debris into the liquid retained within the liquid receiving chamber thereby creating a potential for the formation of a sludge type mixture within the liquid receiving tank.